what is life

Discussion in 'Philosophy' started by Marley., May 9, 2015.

  1. like what is it really? what happens when we die? some people say we get reincarnated, some say go to heaven but when does it end? what happens to our souls? it just keeps going and going and going and going and going, think about it life never ever ends. this fucks with my mind.


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  2. nothing important
     
  3. The people that say these things don't have any evidence that it's true. From what we know about the body, what people call the soul is simply your specific neuronal network. When you die, your "soul" dies with you when the brain stops. That's it. For most of human history, you have not been present. No feelings, no emotions, no nothing. That is death. Enjoy it now my friend and take advantage of your fleeting moment in the sun. 
     
  4. Life is the ability to love. Its the one constant I see in everything I consider alive.
     
  5. Soul is a made up thing. When you die your brain shuts off, your perception is no more. There's nothing to see, smell or experience. This fragile freak of nature concept we call "life" is more important to itself than we are to it - that is to say that you exist to make babies and survive so you can make more babies.
     
  6. I feel, irregardless if it's true whether or not soul exists, is it not a more meaningful existence? How do you know, have you searched the depths within yourself? What does life matter if not having more good feelings than bad ones, does tapping into your soul benefit you in this way? Why is it that modern science keeps on getting progressively more difficult, harder to distinguish bodily problems? Could it be that the mind largely affects the bodys' functions?

    It is...naive to think this world is merely physical. It's an old notion that we should seek to transcend.
     
  7. #7 VaWaveRider, May 10, 2015
    Last edited by a moderator: May 10, 2015
    That's a false dichotomy. We aren't presented with a "soul" or an "only physical" world as our only two choices. I don't believe in the soul and I still have the same transcendental experiences that everyone has. You can meditate in a cave for 10 years, as an example, and you can have profound experiences and learn how to practice mindfulness, all without believing in the existence of a soul. You don't have to have a soul to have more good feelings than bad ones. I don't believe in the soul, yet the good feelings in my life far outnumber the bad ones. Also, people that do believe in the presence of a soul do have lives with more bad emotions than good at times, so I'm not sure what you are trying to prove here. Also, I don't know what you mean by modern science getting progressively difficult. Modern science has solved a vast amount of medical problems and it continue's to do so. Once again, you are creating a false dichotomy in which the world is purely physical or we have a soul, and that's clearly not the case. 
     
    I love my life. I have beautifully profound experiences. It's not necessary to believe anything on insufficient evidence to do so. In my opinion, the truth is better than the fiction. There is no magical soul that is present. All of the astounding experiences that we have in life are a product of our brain. Knowing what really happens only makes it more romantic and profound to me. 
     
  8. Just like before you were born. ;)
     
  9. I don't know I believe in ghosts, yet I don't understand why


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  10. Well, all dichotomies are false...illusory. Whatever is, simply is, throwing in good or bad is only ever subjective and riddled with perception. I don't wish to make you believe in soul, it's as good as me saying there's a god. I feel, again, however that there is a lingering observer present throughout each life that has passed. Meditation, and feelings of..."I've done this before" or the feelings you get that you have no idea where they have stemmed from yet seem to be burdens of a certain time, etc. Have led me to the conclusion

    You can believe or disbelieve anything, which is why truth will always prevail...so the cave example, I mean...sure. I don't doubt you have more good than bad feelings..I hope you do lol.

    All I meant by the doctors being baffled thing was... (and maybe you've heard it before) they treat the body as if it were a well lubricated machine. This part isn't functioning as it should, we do this..or you need this tangible element in your diet. I have a friend who has migraines since she was in her teens and she gets all these shots in her head for it and none seem to help that much more than the last. Fucking stupid for them to do this, and her to accept it as the only viable solution. Anyway, I've felt and solved "bad feelings" or atleast transcended them.

    While it may seem all of the experiences we have are of the brain...that is the nature of the universe, some physical entity is needed for the happening of it all.
     
  11. First of all, not a dichotomies are false. There really are situations where it's choice A, B, or C. The dichotomy you presented was false, because you suggested it's one of two extremes when there really are more. Also, I don't think that Science/medicine thinks that there is a solution for everything at all. Science is the one method in the world where people do regularly admit that they don't know. I'd argue that it's the non-scientific. It's the people who rely on subjective feelings and personal anecdotes who think that there is always a solution or some righting force in the world. Your conclusion is based on subjectivity and assuming the conclusion. Because you have transcended bad feelings, that is not proof that you have a soul. It's proof that you have gotten over/transcended bad feelings. 
     
  12. I always find it funny when people, in very meaningful situations, point to their head and say  "It's not from  here"      then to their heart,  "but from here".    

    Then everyone nods in profound agreement. 
     
  13. Illusory. They are part of one whole. To view one is to see the other, right or wrong is subjective, it just is. You add the dichotomy. We live in duality, we live in an illusory state. Thats what I'm trying to say.

    Science, I agree admits it doesn't know...I am just getting at the fact doctors are schooled as though there's a machine and here's your troubleshooting guide.

    And yes, it is subjective and is my own take on the world...however other things lead me to believe there is soul. Meh...not so much believe at this point. Plus I think the word soul carries an odd connotation of a good - willed, everlasting, always with ya and guiding ya kinda spirit. I don't fully know it's workings....it gotta hunch it's there.
     
  14. A dichotomy has nothing to do with right or wrong unless you apply that. A dichotomy is a division between things that are different. You are using the argument from ambiguity as well. As much as you want to skirt around it, there really are choices to be made. You make choices all of the time. Small parts are what create the whole. Although, this is all part of the ambiguity part. None of what you said as anything to do with evidence for a soul. I still give you props, because you do admit that it is subjective, therefore you don't need to provide evidence. Based on what I know about the brain, I have a hard time believing that there is a soul. I have a "hunch" that what people call the soul is our specific neuronal network, and that's based on evidence, but I still can't say that we have a  Theory of Consciousness developed. I guess we'd have to define the soul to really get into it, but I believe what people call the soul is the neuronal network that is produced by the brain. When the brain dies, the "soul" dies. 
     
  15. It's funny too, because we are well aware of the fact that certain emotions produce measurable changes in blood pressure, heart rate, and that's actually why people starting thinking certain feelings were relegated to the heart. It actually feels like it. I guess knowledge takes awhile to filter down. 
     
  16.  
    I think they simply think emotional decisions are actually made "from the heart".     They're not feeling differently around the heart area  (unless they have a shitty heart), but rather perceive their emotional investment and attribute it to the organ traditionally poetically associated with those feelings. 

    Sorry folks,  still the brain at work there.
     
  17. Life is experience.
     
  18. I agree that it's the brain, but emotions elicit physiological reactions in the body. I feel emotions in my "heart," even though I'm absolutely certain that the brain makes the decisions. Our ancestors however didn't know about the brain and since they felt it in the heart, the phrase came about. That's why the organ is poetically associated with certain feelings. 
     
  19. I must be dead then because other than a caffeine bump or heart rate increase, I don't feel anything in my heart.   And I'm quite fit.

    Obviously when people get flustered, a change in the body can be felt, but nothing so sophisticated as a feeling to believe it originates there.
     
  20. #20 VaWaveRider, May 12, 2015
    Last edited by a moderator: May 12, 2015
    You've never felt a "warmth" due to increased blood flow, or a heart rate increase? Imagine feeling these things before we knew about how the brain works. It's easy to write it off as trivial now that we know, but it was thought that emotions were in the heart because people didn't know. The phrase "I feel it in my gut" originated in the same way. 
     

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